Series 10 - Murphy (Claregalway) family letters

144pp

The Murphy Letters were given to Kerby A. Miller in the 1970s by his collaborator, Dr. E.R.R. Green. Per Miller, quoting Ciarán Bairéad: '"Letters received from America obtained from Mrs. Nora Murphy, aged 78, Lissarulla, Claregalway, Co. Galway. They belong to the period 1922-27 & were written by emigrants from that village & the two neighboring villages of Coherlea and Gortaclera." (Ciarán Bairéad, 28/3/1955, full-time folklore collector for Co. Galway; in the E.R.R. Green Collection, sent to him from the Irish Folklore Commission)'.

Materials pertaining to the Murphy (Claregalway) family letters. Per Kerby A. Miller: 'The authors were members of the Murphy family, from the Claregalway region in east Co. Galway. Their authors were semi-literate and the letters convey only sketchy biographical information. Some of them emigrated in the early or mid-1920s, but it appears that others emigrated prior to World War I. I do have definite Jersey City street addresses for the mid-1920s, but the letters did not make perfectly clear that the surnames of all the authors were Murphy. The letters gave the strong impression that the authors were working-class; most of the authors were women, either servants or workers' housewives.'
The series contains: Kerby A. Miller's typed transcripts of the letters; biographical and census research; photocopies of vital records for potential Murphy relatives; Miller's correspondence with researchers, librarians, and the Historic Paulus Hook Association; copies of newspaper clippings; and photocopied pages from secondary sources related to Hudson County and New Jersey, including city directories.